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On luxury Mid-East cruise, safety a subtle but significant perk

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BY ROBERT SPENCER KNOTTS

Published: July 12, 2011

Updated: 07/12/2011 02:31 pm

I am in the middle of the most dangerous body of water on the planet. Dangerous not because of the sea itself, but because of other ships that are known to sail this region, trawling for kidnap victims.

This is the Gulf of Aden, the world's pirate alley. The local paper is reporting that Somali pirates are holding at least 28 ships for ransom and approximately 588 people captive. They have attacked tankers and cruise ships, fishing boats and family yachts.

And yet, at this moment I am wearing a tuxedo, listening to a cabaret singer named Eric in an elegant art deco bar. I am sipping a martini -- Grey Goose, extra dry. And I am not afraid.

Despite a seriously crippled economy and a still-reeling travel industry, luxury travel – a chance to savor exotic places in five-star style -- is a growth market these days. Cruising is among the luxe market leaders this year, experts say.

Aboard Silversea Cruises' flagship, the 1-year-old Silver Spirit, guests grow accustomed to an unusually personal brand of service – the kind where officers and waiters, bartenders and butlers call you by name. The line's all-inclusive luxury is evident in its cuisine and its wines, its décor and its entertainment. That much is made plain enough by a galley full of "Best Small Cruise Line" and similar awards from major publications. But there is one luxury Silversea never mentions in its sales materials, perhaps the most important of all.

The luxury of security.

My companion, Gwendolyn, and I boarded the ship after a hotel stay in Dubai. We will continue all the way to Alexandria, Egypt, where we will disembark and travel on our own for two days in Cairo. Before leaving the Silver Spirit, we'll spend time in Muscat, Oman, and Petra, Jordan; take an overnight journey to Luxor, Egypt; and motor for three hours each way through Egypt's forbidding Sinai desert to the world's oldest monastery, site of the legendary burning bush of Moses. We'll also traverse the Suez Canal. This is one of the last legs of the Silver Spirit's 119-day world cruise from Los Angeles to Southampton, England.

"We thought Silversea wasn't going to take us any place that wasn't safe," says fellow passenger Diane Masumoto of Huntington Beach, Calif., who is doing the full world cruise with her husband, Rodney. "The captain talked to us and told us he didn't think there'd be any problem during this part of the trip. We're very pleased, because this is one of the highlights."

Our voyage began in mid-April, less than three months after the Egyptian revolution upended Hosni Mubarak's 30-year dictatorship. The so-called Arab Spring throughout the Mideast was playing out amid violent protests from Oman to Bahrain, Jordan to Syria. Both my family and Gwendolyn's asked if we should consider canceling the cruise, which was booked before the uprisings began.

We never seriously considered it, though, mostly because of our confidence in Silversea. Like other ultra-luxury cruise lines, Silversea is known for taking extraordinary measures to ensure the safety of its guests. At a time when cruise companies such as Royal Caribbean announced long-term postponements of Middle Eastern itineraries, Silversea was among a select group of top lines that quickly returned to these turbulent destinations.

Both their confidence and ours seem justified as we sip our drinks and enjoy the music. Sailing the Gulf of Aden in my tux doesn't feel nearly as crazy as it sounds.

In the gulf as well as the Arabian Sea and lower portion of the Red Sea, the hijacking zone, Silversea takes the piracy threat very seriously indeed. A sonic cannon manned 24-hours a day by an officer and crewman points down from the ship's aft, ready to shatter the eardrums of anyone who tries to board. A similar device helped save a Seabourn cruise ship from Somali pirates in 2005. The Silver Spirit also sprays continuous water cannons off the rear among a variety of other, mostly secret, security steps. All this will help make those martinis more enjoyable during the five sea days when our ship is most at risk. I relax, despite the ironic name of the Silver Spirit's captain – Angel A. Corsaro. It's derived from "corsaire," Italian for "pirate."

Security during shore excursions also is stringent as we arrive safely in our first Egyptian port, Safaga. Whether crossing vast stretches of desert or maneuvering around cities, we travel through Egypt on air-conditioned coaches with armed guards. In Egypt and Jordan, our local guides also help deflect some of the vendor throngs. Formal tours are good for escaping postcard salesmen.

With tourism drastically down in the Mideast, Egyptians and Jordanians who live off souvenir sales are desperate for business. It's sad to see, but the mostly empty sites do provide us one significant benefit: We have time to linger at some of the world's most historic places with few fellow tourists jostling for position. We descend into the tomb of King Tut in the Valley of the Kings. Meander throughout the towering temples at Luxor and Karnak. Ride camels in Petra, a sprawling city carved into sandstone mountains.

Normally, we would be in single-file lines with only a few brief moments to, say, stare at Tut's mummy. Now we stand there as long as we like.

Everywhere during the Silversea cruise, ashore or at sea, Gwendolyn and I feel wonderfully secure. That's true even with the memory of 1997's Luxor massacre that killed 62 tourists. Nowhere on earth is completely safe, obviously, least of all the Middle East. But luxury travel significantly increases the security quotient.

That sense of security contrasts dramatically with our feelings during our independent tours of Dubai and Cairo before and after the cruise. Our stays are in five-star hotels: Jumeirah Emirates Towers in Dubai and the Semiramis InterContinental in Cairo. As on Silversea, the service is excellent -- if understandably less personal. The rooms and restaurants, amenities and ambience are top-flight at both properties.

But you're on our own. And it makes a huge difference. In Dubai, a journalist friend who lives there warned us to tell no one Gwendolyn and I aren't married. "You could get into trouble, even at the hotel," she said shortly after our arrival. "Just be very conservative everywhere and don't draw attention to yourselves." This advice doesn't exactly make you feel comfortable during your first hours in the Middle East.

In Cairo, after the cruise, we notice an even sharper comparison with our Silversea experience. The driver we hire to and from the pyramids instead delivers us directly to his buddy's Giza tourist guide business. We struggle to get away gracefully for 15 minutes, only to find ourselves under siege by vendors within the Pyramid compound. With no one to fend them off, these desperate folks descend from all sides during most of our two hours there. It's impossible to even slightly relieve their plight, though we both want to help. If Gwendolyn and I were to throw all our money into the air, the amount wouldn't make a dent.

Instead we wander through Giza's pyramids, which are almost devoid of other tourists. I take photos of the Great Pyramid without anyone in the shots. But the vendors persist, dividing our attention in spite of the site's genuine grandeur.

Still, Gwendolyn and I love exploring the pyramids. And the Egyptian Museum, and Tahrir Square, and the Nile River by felucca , a primitive Egyptian sailboat used since the time of the pharaohs. Cairo is utterly charming, a city that feels full of hope after the revolution. Dubai too is fascinating in its surreal expression of wealth.

But our days spent under the care of Silversea provide that important extra layer of luxury that even the Jumeirah Emirates Towers and Semiramis InterContinental can't give, at least not when we venture outside those gorgeous hotels.

And sometimes when traveling abroad, security really is the biggest luxury of all.

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